Expressing my personal support of self-determination for the people of Kosova.
Clearly, Serbia has no moral right to control Kosova. For the past year, Serb forces, under the command of Dictator Slobodan Milosevic, have been waging a war of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the civilian Albanian population of Kosova. Serbs have cut the throats of children, sliced open the stomachs of pregnant women, and decapitated elderly men all in an effort to force Albanians out of their villages. Once the Albanians abandoned their villages, the Serbs then burn their homes, destroy their crops, slaughter their livestock, and poison their drinking wells. By following this meticulous plan, Serbia has destroyed fully one-third of Kosova.
These crimes against humanity are only the latest attempts by Serbia to repress the Albanians of Kosova. Throughout this century, the Serbs have demonstrated that have no intention of living peacefully with the Albanians. Serbia has burned villages, violated human rights, and instituted a system of apartheid and repression in Kosova.
Additionally, Serbia has no legal right to Kosova. Over the past six hundred years, Serbia has had direct control over Kosova for less than fifty of those years. When Serbs annexed Kosova in this century they did so by force and at a time when the Albanians were the clear majority in the region. Serbia continues to hold onto to Kosova by force. Serbia’s baseless claims to Kosova were rejected in 1974 when the Yugoslav federation granted Kosova autonomy, thereby providing it with a status virtually equal to that of the other republics. Milosevic rescinded that autonomy in 1989 in an action the U.S. still considers illegal.
Lastly, by trying to keep Kosova under Serb rule, the West is merely achieving a short-term cease-fire in Kosova. Milosevic is entrenched in his position and the opposition leaders in Belgrade are equally anti-Albanian. Therefore, the Serbs are likely to resume their repression of the Albanians at the first available opportunity, and the war in Kosova will resume.
The time has come I believe for the world community to recognize that the Albanians have suffered too much under Serb rule. A "divorce" of Kosova from Serbia is both needed and inevitable. That is why I as one ordinary human being in the world community am supporting independence for Kosova !
Respectfully, _______________ Michael McCafferty
